But, with Shane and Leah’s wedding coming up, and Leah and the boys moving in with Shane, Shane’s horses would be going back to Shane’s house. Which meant Snookie needed a friend. Nicole hadn’t known what they were going to do, but Fernando had told her to have a little faith that things would work out.
“Have you been planning this all along?”
He grinned. “I’ve been talking a lot with Walt about my experience postrelease, and he’s been helping me understand why my adjustment has been so rough. I’m also helping him better prepare the men he’s got in the program now to understand how to handle the kind of rejection I face. Most important, he’s been helping me search for the perfect friend for Snookie. I’d hoped to find one sooner, but it’s taken a lot longer than I thought. Still, I think he’s worth the wait. I’ve never met a horse with a sweeter disposition.”
As opposed to Snookie’s moodiness, which was why training her had been such a challenge.
Nicole gave Elmer another pat, then led him over to the corral where Snookie was.
The two horses sniffed at each other cautiously, but then Snookie gave Elmer the playful nudge she liked to give to indicate her acceptance. When Elmer nudged Snookie back, Nicole thought she saw little hearts in his eyes.
Okay, so maybe that was total fancy on her part, but she had a good feeling about these two and their relationship. Even though she’d hoped for a companion for Snookie sooner, she’d learned her lesson with Snookie and had been willing to wait until Fernando found the right horse.
Which was exactly how it had ended up for her own relationship. She looked over at the man she loved and would be marrying tomorrow. Waiting for Fernando to work things out on his own had given him a confidence in himself that she couldn’t have given him. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loved her and would always fight for her.
Even though Fernando had feared how people would react to his record, not only had he gained a number of private training clients, but other outfits had tried stealing Fernando from Ricky. However, Ricky and Fernando had a deep bond, and as Nicole glanced down at the turquoise ring on her finger, she knew that they’d become the family each other needed.
Ricky pulled into the driveway, as if he’d known she was thinking about him.
“What do you think of the horse? Did Walt have anything for me?” he asked, leaning out the window.
Before Nicole could answer, Ricky jumped out of his truck and came over to where they were standing, watching the horses.
“You sure you don’t want me to give you away tomorrow?” Ricky asked.
Nicole shook her head. “I’m sure. My sisters and nephews are going to walk me down the aisle, and there won’t be anyone giving anyone away, but a joining of hearts that make a family bigger and stronger.”
Then she looked over at him and smiled. “But if you want to be part of our family and walk with us, we’d be honored to have you.”
Pastor Roberts had thought the idea strange at first, but the more they talked about it, he came to realize it would be a moving symbol of the value of families growing through marriage, rather than viewing it as a separation.
It would be weird, with Leah moving in with Shane, Nicole moving in with Fernando and Erin being by herself in the ranch house. But with everyone still so close, none of them would be far from each other at all.
Ricky gave her a funny look, then nodded. “I like the sound of that. Maybe you should all change your last name to Ruiz, then when you have a baby, its name can start with an R and carry on the Double R legacy.”
Nicole tried not to groan. Ricky kept reminding them that he wasn’t getting any younger, and that since he’d messed up his own chance at grandbabies, he wanted to enjoy their babies, so they’d better hurry up and start having some.
But as they’d all learned over the past few months, the best things came with patience, time and love, and whatever the future brought, Nicole trusted that it would be wonderful. Not because they wouldn’t face anything bad, but because they had each other.
* * *
Pick up Leah and Shane’s story,
the first book in Danica Favorite’s
Three Sisters Ranch miniseries:
Her Cowboy Inheritance
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Keep reading for an excerpt from Hometown Hope by Laurel Blount.
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Dear Reader,
While all of the characters and situations in this book are purely the work of my imagination, I wanted this book to honor the amazing folks in the federal corrections system who train wild mustangs, who are then sold and used by the general public. Our family has gotten to know a number of fantastic horses who came from this program, so when it was time to get our own mustangs, we knew that’s where we’d get them. These programs help both horse and human on so many levels, and I love being able to share just a little about them.
Though I’ve never been to prison, I’ve seen how it’s affected people I care about, and I also know that many of us, like Fernando, feel trapped by our pasts. God never meant for any of us to live in shame, and as Fernando and Nicole learned, we need to learn to trust God to bring us healing, especially as it often comes from unexpected places.
Wherever you’re at in life, I pray God will bring you healing for whatever you need, and you will find the freedom that comes from love.
I love connecting with my readers, so be sure to find me online:
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Website: http://www.danicafavorite.com/
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Sending love to you and yours,
Danica Favorite
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Hometown Hope
by Laurel Blount
Chapter One
Uh-oh.
Anna Delaney stopped doodling frowny faces and dollar signs in the margin of her notebook and tilted her head, listening. Sure enough, an all-too-familiar rustling was coming from her bookstore’s storage room. Smothering a groan, Anna dropped her head down on the checkout counter with a thump.
The possum was back.
How was that even possible? Two weeks ago, when she’d finally caught
the skinny-tailed varmint in a live trap baited with peanut butter, she’d driven him fifteen miles out into the country before setting him free. She hadn’t seen him since, and she’d hoped he was the one problem related to this store that she’d actually managed to solve.
Apparently not. The animal must’ve liked living in Pine Valley, Georgia, a lot more than she did.
Anna heaved a sigh and started to get up. Then she pressed her lips together, sat back down and picked up her pen.
On second thought, that possum could stay right where he was.
She always kept that door locked, so there was no way he could sneak in here or into her loft apartment upstairs. Another early June thunderstorm was brewing, and if the stubborn animal wanted to spend his Friday night nice and dry amid boxes of paperbacks, Anna wasn’t going to argue with him.
Pretty soon he wouldn’t be her problem anymore. Today, after months of sleepless nights and unanswered prayers, Anna had finally come to terms with the inevitable. Pages, Pine Valley’s one and only bookstore, was going out of business.
She still couldn’t quite wrap her mind around how this had happened. Pneumonia had ended her father’s long struggle with Alzheimer’s only three months ago. Now this store—the retired principal’s legacy to his beloved community—was fading away, too. And his only daughter, a woman with two completed university degrees and three-fourths of a PhD, hadn’t been able to stop it.
It was downright depressing—not to mention humiliating. And to make matters worse, her hopes that her struggles were going unnoticed had been dashed this afternoon.
The minute Trisha Saunders had walked through the door, Anna had known something was up. Her former high school classmate owned Buds and Blooms, the flower shop next door, but she’d never bothered to visit Pages before.
Trisha had her five-year-old and several of his day care classmates in tow.
“Go find a book for Jimmy,” she’d instructed her son. “I’ve been so swamped at work I totally forgot to pick up a birthday present for him, and I don’t have time to run to a toy store now. A book will have to do. The rest of you can help look, and then we’ll go on to the party.” The children had begun pulling books off the shelves, but when Anna had headed over to help, Trish had stopped her with one perfectly manicured hand. “Don’t worry about them, Anna. They can find the book by themselves. I want to talk to you about something.”
Then she’d tugged Anna aside and made an offer on the bookstore. Or more accurately, the building that housed it.
Trisha’s tone had been almost as insulting as the amount she’d offered.
“You won’t get a better deal,” Trisha had said, casting an appraising look around as the children played a shrieking game of hide-and-seek among the shelves. “This space needs a lot of updating. I wouldn’t touch it myself if our two buildings weren’t attached. Besides, everybody knows you’re holding on by your fingernails. Now that your dad’s dead, why not just sell this store and move on with your life?”
Now that your dad’s dead. The nonchalant way Trisha had tossed off that horrible phrase cracked across Anna’s sore heart like a slap.
She doesn’t know, Anna had reminded herself. Trisha’s parents were still both living. She had no idea what it felt like to lose the only family you had in the whole world.
“Obviously running a business isn’t your strong suit, Anna,” Trisha had continued in a patronizing tone. “Isn’t there something else you’d rather be doing? I mean, weren’t you taking some high-level university classes or something before your dad got sick?”
“I was working toward a PhD in literature. Well, British literature, actually. I—”
“Whatever.” Trisha had interrupted Anna’s explanation with an impatient shrug. “Sell the store to me, and you can go back and finish that up. It’s the perfect solution all the way around. So, how soon can you have all this junk cleared out?”
Anna had felt a flash of indignation. Books weren’t junk. But she’d held her tongue. Based on her personal experience—and her sales figures—most people in Pine Valley agreed with Trisha. “I haven’t the foggiest idea.”
“Well, don’t take too long. I need to get all this settled before my other new addition comes along.” Trish had patted her round baby bump with a self-satisfied smile.
Remembering that little smirk, Anna scribbled so hard that the point of her pen tore through the notebook paper.
Back in high school Trisha had scraped by academically, spending her weekends partying while Anna had spent almost all her time with her nose stuck in some textbook. Now Trisha was balancing a booming business with a picture-perfect growing family. Meanwhile Anna “Brainy” Delaney, valedictorian and triumphant winner of the Hayes scholarship, was living alone above a bankrupt bookstore, sharing her peanut butter with a possum.
Life certainly hadn’t turned out the way she’d expected.
A sudden clap of thunder boomed, causing the walls of the hundred-year-old building to shudder. Glancing up from her scribbles, Anna caught a quick glimpse of Pine Valley’s town square through the wide store window before the downpour started. She sighed and set down her pen.
She’d better crank up the dehumidifiers. Damp seeped into the cracks of this old building, warping books and condensing on the inside of the windows.
So much for her idea of staying open late in the hopes of drumming up an extra sale or two. Nobody would be out in this weather. She might as well lock up, go upstairs and start researching all the logistics involved in closing a bookstore.
She sure hoped that would turn out to be easier than running one.
Anna flipped the sign in the door’s window to Closed and twisted the grudging bolt into place. After flicking off the lights, she picked her way through the dim store, pausing at the checkout counter just long enough to snag an empty coffee mug and, after a second’s guilty hesitation, her bookmarked novel.
She wouldn’t read long, she promised herself. Just a few minutes.
A half hour, tops.
Blam! Blam-blam-blam!
Halfway up the steps to her apartment, Anna whirled around as another flash of lightning lit up the darkened store. A man stood at the door, his face pressed against the glass, pounding on it with one clenched fist.
Anna yelped, dropping both her coffee mug and her book. The lightning flickered again, and when she caught her second glimpse of the man, her fear morphed into annoyance.
Oh, for crying out loud.
That was Hoyt Bradley. Since the man had never voluntarily opened a book in his life, Anna had no idea what he was doing banging on the door of a bookstore in the middle of a storm, but he wasn’t going to kill her.
Well, not unless he was planning to aggravate her to death.
Hoyt made an impatient what-are-you-waiting-for gesture through the glass, and Anna rolled her eyes. Then she stepped over her broken mug and stalked back down the steps toward the door.
Hoyt had always been as stubborn as a mule. She didn’t know what he’d come for, but he wouldn’t leave until he got it. She might as well deal with him now. Anna flipped the lights back on and slid the bolt free.
Hoyt lunged into the shop, rivers of rainwater sluicing off his broad used-to-be-a-football-star shoulders. “Is she here?”
“You could’ve given me a heart attack banging on the door like that! And watch what you’re doing! You’re flinging water all over my Jane Austens.” Anna grabbed one sodden shirtsleeve and tried to tug Hoyt away from the classics she’d hopefully arranged in a display near the entryway.
It was like trying to move a boulder. Hoyt didn’t budge. “Is she here, Anna?”
“Is who here? Hoyt, seriously, you’re soaked through, and you’re getting water everywhere. Do you even own an umbrella?”
Since he obviously wasn’t going to move, she’d better scoot the cardboard display stand
out of the puddle he was creating.
“Anna, please.” As she turned away, Hoyt reached out and caught her upper arms, his wet hands chilling her bare skin. Her pulse skittered out of rhythm as memories flooded her brain.
She’d sat knee to knee with Hoyt Bradley every afternoon for eight months during her junior year in high school. Every single time his leg had accidentally brushed hers, her pulse had done the same ridiculous thing.
She wasn’t sixteen anymore. She should have outgrown this nonsense.
Apparently she hadn’t.
She glared up at him, her cheeks stinging hot, poised to twist out of his grip and give him a generous piece of her mind. What she saw brought her up short.
Hoyt’s handsome, square-jawed face was pale, and raw fear widened his hazel eyes. Right then all those silly oh-my-word-he-touched-me butterflies fluttering in Anna’s stomach fell horribly still. Something was wrong.
Nothing scared Hoyt Bradley.
“Where’s Jess?” Hoyt ground out the question, and Anna’s eyes widened. He was looking for his five-year-old daughter.
“I—I don’t know,” Anna stammered. “I haven’t seen her. I mean, I saw her for a little while this afternoon. She was with that group of kids Trisha was taking to Jimmy McAllister’s party.”
“When?”
“I...I don’t remember, exactly.”
“Think.”
He was still holding her arms. She wished he wasn’t, because it made thinking a whole lot harder. She swallowed and tried to focus.
“They came in a little after three, and they stayed until almost four thirty.” During which time they’d pretty much destroyed her children’s area, while Trisha tried to convince Anna to accept one-third of her building’s value. “What’s going on?”
“Did you see Jess leave with Trisha?”
Anna did her best to remember. Finally she shook her head. “I assumed she did. But of course, she’s so quiet—” She broke off, darting a quick look up into Hoyt’s face.
The Cowboy's Faith Page 18
